In seeking reprisals against media, Chávez hurts democracy

New York, May 29, 2009--President Hugo Chávez Frías is damaging Venezuelan
democracy by continuing to threaten private media with reprisals and making
unwarranted accusations against the press, the Committee to Protect Journalists
said today.

On Thursday, Chávez demanded that Attorney General Luisa
Ortega Díaz, Minister of Public Works and Housing Diosdado Cabello, and the
Supreme Tribunal of Justice take action against media that "poison" Venezuela,
according to local press reports. If the officials do not, they should resign,
Chávez said on his radio and television show, "Aló Presidente."

"Carry out your duty--that's why you are there; otherwise
resign and let someone with courage take over," Chávez said during the
broadcast, part of a four-day series marking the show's 10th anniversary, according
to press reports. The president repeated a previously stated, but unsupported
accusation that media wants to "incite" his murder.

Chávez's
comments come just three weeks after the National Telecommunications Commission
(CONATEL) announced that it had opened an
investigation into the private
broadcaster Globovisión for allegedly "inciting panic and anxiety in the
population" following a May 4 report on an earthquake that shook Caracas.
Globovisión was the first outlet to report on the 5.4 magnitude quake. Minister
Cabello heads CONATEL.

"By threatening direct action against the media, President
Chávez is overstepping his authority and ratcheting up his efforts to stifle
dissent," said CPJ Americas Senior
Program Coordinator Carlos Lauría. "We call on Chávez to put an end to
this systematic campaign of harassment against the media by showing tolerance
to ideas and opinions that oppose the views of his government."

Chávez has used his office before to silence a broadcaster.
In 2007, he pushed CONATEL to strip RCTV, the
country's oldest private television network, of its license to use the public
airwaves. Now known as RCTV International, the station is available today only
as a paid subscription service on cable and satellite. On Thursday, the president
alluded to the RCTV decision, saying, "If what has to happen does not happen in
the correct institutions then I will have to act like I have had on previous
occasions."

Globovisión faces two other administrative
proceedings. In November 2008, CONATEL
began investigating the broadcaster on charges of violating the Law of Social
Responsibility after the station aired a victory speech by an opposition
gubernatorial candidate before the results were officially announced. In a
press conference a day after the election, Chávez ordered CONATEL to "severely
discipline" the broadcaster for airingelection
results prior to official confirmation.

A
month before, CONATEL had initiated a proceeding against Globovisión after the
station broadcast comments by journalist and presidential critic Rafael Poleo,
director of the daily El Nuevo País, who
said Chávez "could end up like Mussolini." CONATEL said Poleo's commentary violated
the Law on Social Responsibility.

Known
for its strident antigovernment views, Globovisón is the only critical
television station left on the public airwaves. Globovisón's programming can be
viewed in metropolitan Caracas
and the state of Carabobo. The other remaining private networks, Televén and
Venevisión, have eased their critical reporting in recent years.